Now might be the time for that RAM upgrade – to beat rumored price hikes
According to a new forecast, DDR4 (and DDR5) RAM for your PC could soon become more expensive, and a little sooner than expected.
If you’ve been following RAM prices – and we apologize if you haven’t (just this once) – you’ll have seen that DDR4 system memory prices have steadily fallen over the course of this year to consumer delight. (DDR5, on the other hand, has already seen some increases – although by its nature it is a lot more expensive than the latest standard anyway).
However, according to a new one report from analyst firm TrendForce (via Tom’s hardware), the good times of price drops are about to come to an end, and we’ll see DDR4 go the other way for the rest of this year.
We’re told that DDR4 memory sticks will increase in price in the last quarter of 2023, possibly by (up to) 5%. DDR5 will also become increasingly expensive, with a predicted increase of up to 8%.
TrendForce further predicts that graphics DRAM will see a price increase of up to 8%, which could mean that the best graphics cards and gaming laptops will also be subject to upward price pressure. Yuck, in a word.
Analysis: RAM makers are taking action to address excess inventory
Why does this happen? TrendForce notes that one of the main factors at play here is that Samsung is significantly cutting RAM production in an effort to reduce the excess stock floating around (which has kept prices under pressure going into 2023).
That’s a theme in the RAM industry, and with PC makers now grabbing more supply – in an attempt to beat the aforementioned price hike – that will obviously be a factor as well.
In short, the stock correction is in full swing – certainly for DDR5, and most likely for DDR4 as well, although we should note that a 5% increase is a worst-case scenario. The lower end of the analyst firm’s estimate is that DDR4 prices will remain static, but since the reality is likely to fall between these two estimates, we can expect an increase of around 3%. After all, in theory this is just a prediction.
What’s interesting here is that the DDR4 increases weren’t supposed to happen until next year, and are now apparently imminent for the fourth quarter of 2023. So this could be the right time to pull the trigger on purchasing DDR4 RAM if you want to purchase. at the bottom of the market.
Depending on what happens if manufacturers are conservative with production and try to reduce excess inventories, we could also see more impactful increases in the future.